Fantasy Football

2016 NFL Draft Recap: Quarterbacks

One of the things that make dynasty leagues so different from redraft and keepers is the attention the enthusiast has to put into the off-season moves of the sport involved. Dynasty leagues in fantasy football pay particular attention to the free agency phase in March and the draft in April.

With rookies, the idea is to grasp the fit of the player into an offense and whether his college value can translate favorably in the pros. It doesn’t always happen.

So there’s always an element of risk in selecting the rookies from the pool because decisions in dynasty are clouded by a murky future more distant than basic annual leagues.

In selecting or targeting a rookie, the thought always has to be for the long haul and busts have to be considered within that context. Miserable situations arise where dumping has to be considered with players like Robert Griffin III or Johnny Manziel. Starting from scratch in dynasty isn’t a fun thing.

Rookies have to be carefully considered – dynasty or not

Paying attention even in keepers or redraft still holds some value early. NFL teams often pick up bargains after the second round.

A chief example would be David Johnson of the Cardinals last season. He went in the third round as the 86th pick. Look where he is now. Okay, there was a lot of injury fate that went into his rise, but if you shouldn’t dismiss the lower rounds.

You’ve got to desire good players for your fantasy football team – even if they aren’t immediate starters. Of course we all want good players, so what do I mean by that? I’m talking about the eye test and not relying solely on stats.

Go to youtube and look at these players and see if you think they’ll be all-pro calibre. You’d be surprised at how good a scout you’ll become by reading about and watching these young players.

2016 NFL Draft Recap: Quarterbacks

Quarterbacks

It’s common knowledge that rookie quarterbacks rarely become QB1s in their debut season. This is one of the reasons that dynasty takes a more critical eye on them.

Sometimes they come around toward fantasy establishment in the latter part of year one, but there’s still little reason for drafting them as your workhorse QB. I sometimes will draft a rookie QB in a late round as a presumptive stash, but I generally prefer a battle hardened QB as an injury hedge during the fantasy campaign.

One of the two highly sought after quarterbacks in this year’s draft. Consensus is a little mixed on whether Wentz can be a strong quarterback out of the gate and it is fully assumed that Bradford will remain the starter – at least on paper he is.

Wentz has some good positives coming into the NFL as he can play through injury and has that pro look and ability. Since he has deep accuracy, the main thing the Eagles will want to do is have Wentz adjust to pro defense pressure to unleash that talent.

Overall, he’s more than capable of running the Eagles offense as North Dakota State incorporated a standard under-center type offense.

Bradford prepares for getting phased out

It could happen quick too. The Eagles also have Chase Daniel in the mix, so Bradford is fighting for a job. I wouldn’t count him out, but his attitude with the team right now is at a real low.

It’s no secret that all throughout the early spring he has wanted to be traded in anticipation of his current shaky job security. Bradford suffers much from an injury riddled early career and his dependability even as a bye-week flier in fantasy made everyone shop elsewhere.

The Rams played the media for some stupid reason on their first pick. It wasn’t hard to reason where they were going, so I don’t understand the attempt to bamboozle the press over their number one pick.

So anyway, Jared Goff from Cal is going get the starting gig with the Rams from day one. Nick Foles and Case Keenum won’t get a sniff. Whether or not Goff is the answer to keeping Jeff Fisher alive remains to be seen. Fisher is in sort of the same position as Ken Whisenhunt was in last year with Mariota.

The main problems of rookie quarterbacks was seen last season in Mariota and Winston. Reading NFL caliber defenses takes a long time.

This will likely be Goff’s quid pro quo as well in his transition to the pro game from PAC-12 football. Even Mariota, the sponge that he is, couldn’t translate the chalkboard to the field. It’s just goes to show you that experience has to come from the school of hard knocks. It’s probably why NFL teams prefer the quarterback “clipboard rookies” than just putting them out there with nothing more than a playbook wristband.

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Rams receivers may be fantasy relevant again

The best thing for Goff that will make his adjustment to the NFL much easier is running game of the Rams. With Todd Gurley occupying the game plans of the opposition, there’s plenty of opportunity for Goff to show his playmaking ability.

Of the two main quarterbacks entering the league, my choice would be Goff over Wentz in dynasty, simply because of the offense that surrounds him. We might even see further improvement in Tavon Austin and Kenny Britt or Brian Quick may actually be fantasy relevant again.

With Mark Sanchez as the provisional sub, the Super Bowl Champs have reordered a new franchise quarterback and Paxton Lynch is the first one they’ll give a try. They really wanted Osweiler to to remain with the team, but the negotiations fell through and he went to the Texans.

The talented receivers of the Broncos desperately need a good gunslinger for the team and us for fantasy football. Right now it is uncomfortable to draft Demaryius Thomas or Emmanuel Sanders because of the uncertainty.

Sanchez probably starts most of 2016

I know. Not good right? It’s the consensus of most observers that Lynch won’t be the starter out of the gate. We’re not at training camp yet, so don’t lose hope because things can change between now and preseason.

Not that I’m concerned about the fantasy value of the quarterbacks. It’s the aforementioned wideouts that bother me from that all important fantasy perspective. So let’s just say that’s how things stand at the moment.

Not that the Jets don’t need a quarterback, they do, but Christian Hackenberg probably isn’t it.

The frustrating thing about quarterbacks of his caliber is that he puts so much steam on the ball that it makes catch ‘n’ run difficult for the wide receivers. Receivers, even the good ones, do think running downfield sometimes before the ball gets there and occasionally have drops because of it. Hackenberg ensures they’ll have to concentrate on the catch first, a good thing, but it limits their talent for yards after the catch.

So we’re back to Geno Smith are we?

I’m afraid it looks that way, unless Fitzpatrick comes back for another gap fill – which the Jets hope. It’s that or Bryce Petty will come out for some starts.

I don’t think Hackenberg is a particularly great dynasty pickup either – the word is ‘iffy’. It could be a long wait and when that’s the case, anything could take shape for 2017.

This of course is pure off-season speculation on my part, but when you’ve seen so few quarterbacks actually rise high up from the lower end of the food chain, pessimism creeps in. It doesn’t help when the Jets are tough nut to crack when it comes to quarterbacks.

With all that said, the big bright spot is that the Jets are prepared to do anything to get settled with decent franchise quarterback. Hackenberg, despite my misgivings, could be an answer for them down the road.

Whenever the Patriots draft a quarterback, people take notice. Whether it’s the Belichick system or whatever, watching how New England does the ironing seems fascinating.

They are always looking for any wrinkle to be smoothed. One wrinkle coming down the road is the Tom Brady retirement. So the Patriots naturally don’t want to put their eggs all in one basket with Garappolo.

Besides, Brisset will get extra readiness and preparation in light of Brady’s suspension resuming where it was supposed to be last year over the deflategate scandal.

What about this Brisset guy?

I’m interested and in dynasty I would strongly consider taking him. He’s just the kind of guy Belichick and his coaching council like.

He is a quarterback who has all the pro qualities of a touch passer and runs. I think the part of the eye test that impressed me was the strong running. I’m really enamored with the Cam Newton’s and Russell Wilson’s of this world and Brisset is another one of those type of quarterbacks.

What’s more is that he’s durable enough to take a hard pounding. It’s one of the reasons Russell Wilson avoids taking matters too far in running the football – he’s not quite as durable.

About Richard Savill

Richard is an NFL Fantasy Football Writer and Editor of Fantasy Six Pack. Host of The Fantasy Edge Podcast. FantasyPros Contributor. Member of the FSWA. Richard is known for his "outside the box" insight into NFL fantasy football. Winner of the 16-Team 2015 FSWA challenge.